A reader tells us he always starts his Chrome Web browser using the "private" browsing setting.
This means there is no trace left on a computer of what sites a user visits or what files might be downloaded. It's particularly helpful to use this mode when a person uses a public computer, such as at a library or hotel.
We do this sometimes, too. To become invisible in Chrome or Opera, hold down the "Ctrl" and "Shift" keys in Windows and tap the letter "n." In Firefox or Internet Explorer, hold down Ctrl and Shift and tap "p" for private. Then, close any other tab that opened automatically when you started up the browser.
If you want browsers to automatically open up in private mode, do a search on the phrase "how to always start your favorite browser in private browsing mode." The instructions aren't complex -- just longer.
Smarty Pans
It's not enough to have a smartphone these days. Now, high-tech consumers need a smart frying pan.
What we have here is a crowd-funding project called Pantelligent. A sensor in the pan keeps track of time and temperature and sends that information to an iPhone app, which lets a user know what's cooking, so to speak.
It tells users when the pan is hot enough to put in meat or veggies, when to flip them and when to take them out. The app will send out alerts if the cook gets distracted. It can also help with recipes. With a tap on a picture of something you want to cook, you will get simple instructions and an ingredients list. The app includes a "record recipe" feature, so a user can nail down Mom's secrets and do them on their own. A video on Pantelligent.com shows inventor Humberto Evans making the perfect salmon. It's expected to sell for around $200 as soon as the early-bird orders have completed.
App Happy
• Be My Eyes is an iPhone app that helps blind people identify a piece of mail, something on a shelf or anything that needs to be identified visually. The app has already signed up more than 78,000 sighted helpers and 5,800 blind users, who would use their camera phone to show a helper what they'd like identified. The helper who gets the video call is under no obligation. If they can't help, it passes automatically to the next helper. This app can really free a blind person from dependence on neighbors or friends.
• KidsDoc, a $2 app, helps you determine what to do if your kid is sick. It is the top iPhone app recommended by the 65,000 doctors at HealthTap.com. The doctors' favorite Android app is First Aid American Red Cross. You can see the whole list at healthtap.com/top_health_apps_2014.
A Bigger Stick
In March, Intel is coming out with Compute Stick, a plastic thing that plugs into any late-model TV and -- poof! -- turns it into a Windows 8.1 computer.
This is way beyond the Roku, Chromecast and the Amazon Fire TV Sticks we wrote about recently. You just have to ask yourself if you want a whole computer on your TV. It's $149 for the Windows version, and for the real tech types, there's a Linux version for $89. A keyboard would be extra -- but they're cheap.
Our take on this? It would be good for people who find themselves squinting when they look at computer monitors. Get the big picture.
(subhed) A Better Plug-in
The Power Tap is a wall plug-in charger that looks like a faucet. Turn the tap when you want to power your gadget.
We like this a lot. Joy is always hunting for the charging cable for her iPad Mini. Now, she can just leave it plugged in without wasting power. We'd be even happier if it had two USB ports: one for the phone and one for the iPad. Then we'd never have to search for the right cable. The Power Tap is $27.50 from Aeropostale.com (Clothing, apparently, is a sideline.)
Free Unlimited Photo Storage
Flickr provides users with a terabyte of photo storage, but now, Amazon Prime members can get unlimited storage on the free Amazon Cloud Drive.
While Prime membership costs $99 a year, we find it worth it. We love free two-day delivery on packages; it's saved us many a time when we were about to be late for a birthday. We also like the free Amazon series, such as Alpha House, created by Garry Trudeau, author of Doonesbury. And if we can't find a movie to watch, we've found good stuff there. And many older movies are free.
Free Storage for Chromebooks
We've written about Google Chromebooks, laptops for surfing the web and answering email. They cost around $200, and now they come with a terabyte of free storage for two years.
A terabyte is 1,000 gigabytes. To put that in perspective, the Encyclopedia Britannica, including all illustrations, takes only about 4.5 gigabytes. The big appeal of the Chromebook is that nearly everything it does takes place online. Because of this, any problems with the computer are automatically fixed every time you start it up and connect to the service. You don't need an anti-virus program.
In a way, Chromebooks are a return to the past, when most computer users worked with terminals -- stand-alone monitors and keyboards -- which were connected to a large computer somewhere else. Now, that large mother computer is operated by Google, and we connect through the Internet. Sales have been steadily increasing, and now schools are buying more Chromebooks than iPads: 715,000 to 702,000 in the third quarter of last year, according to The Financial Times.
If you're a die-hard Windows user, however, and we admit that we are, HP is now selling the $200 Stream 11, a full Windows laptop. It comes with 1 terabyte of storage free for one year. We haven't tried it yet, but some early users have complained that it's real slow. That's partly because it comes with a lot of free stuff sometimes called junkware and partly because it has a low-grade processor. That always slows things down.
Bob and Joy can be contacted by email at bobschwab@gmail.com and joy.schwabach@gmail.com.
SundayMonday Business on 02/02/2015